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Effects of cat ownership on the gut microbiota of owners

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Re: Effects of cat ownership on the gut microbiota of owners

#121

Post by Tenoke »

nix23 wrote: post #103
DocTomoe wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, keeping your cat inside should be the norm. Cats are, essentially, a highly invasive species that has been linked to massive decline and sometimes extinctions of local fauna.

>Actually, keeping your cat inside should be the norm. Not in Europe, maybe new zealand. But in Europe we had/have wildcats until we destroyed the large forests. And nearly ever farmer depends on a cat to keep vermin's in check, if you have to keep your cat inside DONT BUY A CAT.

I live in a city and letting my cats outside is not feasible. They are also perfectly happy indoors and I doubt that street cats live better lives.

Re: Effects of cat ownership on the gut microbiota of owners

#122

Post by gambiting »

teekert wrote: post #88
marricks wrote: post #20

Who knows what the net affect is but taking the final sentences of some of the results paragraphs makes it seem like taking care of a cat is a good idea: > [...] Therefore, cat ownership may be involved in mediating the abundance of disease-related gut microbes. > [...] Therefore, from the perspective of gut microbiota, our study not only supports that there might be no correlation between cat ownership and obesity b…

As long as you keep it inside (where it isn't defecating in my garden, hunting my chickens or trying to get inside where I may lock it in by accident causing mayhem, etc, I'd like my pregnant wife to still be able to do gardening and also I like eating things from my garden). I live in a country where it is legal to just keep you cat outside all day. It's madness.

>>I live in a country where it is legal to just keep you cat outside all day. It's madness.

As someone who lived most of my life in the countryside and our cats only lived outside, I will echo some of the other comments - is there anywhere where you can't keep a cat outside???? That's madness.

Re: Effects of cat ownership on the gut microbiota of owners

#123

Post by Tenoke »

gcheong wrote: post #3

"Sixty percent of cat owners sleep with their cats, which may enhance their sense of security and improve their quality of sleep" Maybe, but now only between the hours of 10pm - 5:30am, for me anyway.

I'm a light sleeper and cat ownership has definitely worsen my sleep since they occasionally wake me up by making noise. I'd definitely not recommend a cat to someone hoping it will improve their sleep.

Re: Effects of cat ownership on the gut microbiota of owners

#124

Post by Nursie »

daniellarusso wrote: post #111
knicholes wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried programming my arduino to trigger a servo to pull the handle on a spray air can when a sound over a threshold was detected by the microphone, but the servo wasn't strong enough. Enabling an outlet to an already-plugged in vacuum sounds good, though. Excellent... I had plans to train a cat meow classifier so I wouldn't activate the can due to other noises, say a fire truck, fireworks, or a neighbor slamming a…

They actually sell these devices, but they are IR motion activated, not via sound. https://store.petsafe.net/ssscat-spray-pet-deterrent

We have one of those, they're good but the refills are strangely expensive.

Turns out they fit some standard brands of canned air, I picked up some branded "ecomoist air duster" and it works really well, although slightly quieter, it still seems to work on our kitty.

Re: Effects of cat ownership on the gut microbiota of owners

#125

Post by omginternets »

marricks wrote: post #20

Who knows what the net affect is but taking the final sentences of some of the results paragraphs makes it seem like taking care of a cat is a good idea: > [...] Therefore, cat ownership may be involved in mediating the abundance of disease-related gut microbes. > [...] Therefore, from the perspective of gut microbiota, our study not only supports that there might be no correlation between cat ownership and obesity b…

>Who knows what the net affect is

The net affect is love and affection =P

Re: Effects of cat ownership on the gut microbiota of owners

#126

Post by Nursie »

tverbeure wrote: post #38
knicholes wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my case, it demolishes any chance of restful sleep. She literally walks all over me. She'll meow at the door if I shut the door. So it's either meows or walking. It's a ... nightmare.

In the past year, the biggest quality of life improvements in our household were: - changing the door handles to door knobs, because our lovable asshole had long ago figured out how to open a door, and used that special trick every morning at 4:30am when he wanted to go out. - installing an RFID triggered electronic cat flap that we installed in the outside wall of my hobby room. It uses the RFID tag that was already…

The "Sure" flaps are great. We keep our cats in at night, and have the flap programmed to only allow inbound after 8pm, until about 6am (at this time of year), and it keeps other cats out.

Re: Effects of cat ownership on the gut microbiota of owners

#127

Post by Nursie »

knicholes wrote: post #4
gcheong wrote: post #3

"Sixty percent of cat owners sleep with their cats, which may enhance their sense of security and improve their quality of sleep" Maybe, but now only between the hours of 10pm - 5:30am, for me anyway.

In my case, it demolishes any chance of restful sleep. She literally walks all over me. She'll meow at the door if I shut the door. So it's either meows or walking. It's a ... nightmare.

Close door. Ignore meows. If meows continue or start up in the middle of the night and you can't ignore them, open the door suddenly, hiss at the cat and chase it away.

You won't have to do this often. Our cats have (mostly) learned this. They are still affectionate, loving cats that desire our company, but they know that meowing at the bedroom door in the night is not allowed.

(and we had to do this for the very same reason, our boy cat loves to be on the bed with us or in the room when we're sleeping. He loves it so much he has to get up and move around every few minutes, trill and purr at us, demand attention, walk around on his people etc etc. He can't be a night-time bed cat because he's just too into it!)

Re: Effects of cat ownership on the gut microbiota of owners

#128

Post by nosianu »

teekert wrote: post #102
croo wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I must be living on the other side of the planet! Is there a place where keeping a cat outside is illegal? Poor cats :( I have a garden and sandbox for kids and the soultion for cat poop was a dog. Is there a similiar research for dogs?

Where I live most people with dogs either let them poop in nature or clean it up. They certainly don't come into my garden to do their business. Telling someone to take a huge pet with huge responsibilities just to get rid of neighborhood cats pooping in their garden is a bit of a non-solution. But I guess, it's all funny when you own and love cats. But, please try to imagine what it can be like for your neighbors wh…

> They certainly don't come into my garden to do their business.

It's only a small fraction of dog owners but in my city - and a lot more after COVID isolation which seems to have increased pet dog population noticeably around here - dog poop is regularly found on city side walks. I can find articles with complaints about dog poop on (for me, German) sidewalks easily, much harder than finding complaints about cat poop (Google search, German words: endless list for dogs, a single page with only two real matches). Of course, a big part of it, apart from cats trying to hide theirs, is that dogs are forced to be on sidewalks by having to be on a leash so it's not a completely fair comparison for dogs.

The cats (mostly in the more affluent suburbs that I live close to so I walk through there a lot in the evenings because there's a lot of green) don't leave any traces that I ever saw (I see one to a few cats every evening though, they are not all kept inside).

As a cat lover (without a cat since my living conditions don't make for a good cat space), I hope some day we get genetically modified cats that have no interest in birds. We have plenty of rats and mice around here though, in the shrubbery. Easy to hear and - if you care to look - see them run underneath the fallen leaves at dusk. Definitely would be great to have more car- and bird-repsecting cats around here, in the greener parts of the city!

Re: Effects of cat ownership on the gut microbiota of owners

#129

Post by Nursie »

testfoobar wrote: post #42
29athrowaway wrote: post #9

Some cats carry Toxoplasmosis gondii .

Not sure why you're downvoted. "Toxoplasma gondii-A Gastrointestinal Pathogen Associated with Human Brain Diseases" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5508738/

It's not like cats are the only source, undercooked meat is another major one (and is why pregnant women are advised not to eat rare steak).

As a cat-owning rare-steak lover, I'm probably doomed.

Re: Effects of cat ownership on the gut microbiota of owners

#130

Post by Nursie »

clydethefrog wrote: post #104
nix23 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Actually, keeping your cat inside should be the norm. Not in Europe, maybe new zealand. But in Europe we had/have wildcats until we destroyed the large forests. And nearly ever farmer depends on a cat to keep vermin's in check, if you have to keep your cat inside DONT BUY A CAT.

The majority of cats in Europe is city cats that demolish the local bird and critter population. https://academic.oup.com/jel/article/32/3/391/5640440

The RSPB in the UK don't seem to think that cat predation is a significant factor in bird species decline -

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/gardening-...

"Those bird species which have undergone the most serious population declines in the UK (such as skylarks, tree sparrows and corn buntings) rarely encounter cats, so cats cannot be causing their declines. Research shows that these declines are usually caused by habitat change or loss, particularly on farmland."

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